Apple cutting iTunes pricing on TV episodes?

According to a report from Variety today, the Jobster and crew aren't stopping at iPhone price cuts. If you believe what the entertainment rag has to say about iTunes, the word on the street is that Apple is hoping to halve the cost of TV shows, dropping the $1.99 price to just $.99. Variety claims three separate sources have indicated that the Cupertino juggernaut has gone as far as telling networks and studios about the price drop, and that the plan was actually the cause of NBC's departure from the music / TV / movie download service. Apparently -- as with the Peacock network -- other providers are balking at the change, particularly when it comes to DVD boxed sets, as $.99 per-episode downloads could impact sales that many studios rely on. The paper goes on to claim that studios are interested in the idea of tiered pricing for older and newer shows (offering something like The Brady Bunch at a lower price than last week's episode of Lost), though Apple is resistant to the concept. Still, the report is largely hearsay at this point, so until we get some more solid facts, we're treating this as educated speculation.